Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson has lifted an injunction against his ex-wife. Photograph: BBC

Jeremy Clarkson has lifted an injunction banning the publication of details about his private life after the claims were published online.

The Top Gear presenter lifted the gagging order against his former wife on Wednesday, claiming that privacy injunctions are "pointless" and "don't work".

Clarkson took out the injunction last autumn to prevent the media from reporting a claim by his first wife, Alexandra Hall, that the pair had an affair after he married his current wife, Frances.

The injunction banned the media from reporting "sexual or other intimate acts or dealings" between Clarkson and his first wife, as well as details about the presenter's "private thoughts and feelings, his health and other financial affairs".

Clarkson revealed on Wednesday night he had lifted the gagging order.

"Most importantly, injunctions don't work," he told the Daily Mail. "You take out an injunction against somebody or some organisation and immediately news of that injunction and the people involved and the story behind the injunction is in a legal-free world on Twitter and the internet. It's pointless."

Clarkson said that those seeking to prevent intimate details reaching the public domain are now in a lose-lose situation.

"You used to be able to take out an injunction and then just sit on it. But as a result of a recent court case you are now ultimately forced by the courts to go to trial – which is unbelievably expensive," he added.

"If you win, news leaks out on the internet. If you lose, you then get raped by your opponent's legal fees."

The high-profile BBC presenter said he regretted the injunction from the day he took it out until Wednesday, when he voluntarily requested it to be lifted.

He said Hall was now free to tell her story and "people can either believe it or not, it's up to them".

Clarkson becomes the second high-profile figure in six months to reveal they had taken out a gagging order. Andrew Marr, the BBC presenter, said in April that he had used a superinjunction to protect his family's privacy.

Unlike Clarkson, Marr only moved to lift his injunction after a high court challenge by Private Eye magazine.

Clarkson told the Daily Mail he had sought the injunction to protect his mother and family from the rumours. "I dish the dirt out and I can take it. But why should my mother and children have to take it?" he said.

"In 20 years I have taken any number of stories, most of which are not true, without a murmur of complaint. But some stories you have to draw the line and say no."

Several injunctions are still in place after the "high season" of gagging orders in April and May this year.

Clarkson was referred to in court only as AMM, while Hall was referred to as HXW.

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